Forest in the Context of Social Change: Traditional Orientation and Forest Mystification in a Nigerian Forest-Reserve Setting

Received 29 March 2021. Accepted 1 October 2021. Published online 11 October 2021.This article exposits the mystification of forests among people residing in proximity to a forest reserve in southwestern Nigeria. The theory of material engagement and the ecology of human development support the position that the forest is a classical motivator of traditional culture. Still, socio-cultural change is prevalent. As an element of this change, forest-based social cognition warrants systematic examination in the interest of environmental sustainability. This is because the concurrent conveyance of sustainability-promoting immaterial culture across generations is a component of the pathway to a sustainable future. Moreover, systems theory posits that social events affect each other. Since social change is not solitary but encompassing, forest mystification was examined along with other indicators of traditional orientation including attitudes towards religion, ageing and gender, as well as cultural enthusiasm. The results indicate that forest mystification is still huge and connected with orientations towards ageing and cultural enthusiasm. This exemplifies the Yorùbá social context’s manifestation of continuity as opposed to change in forest culture; and stands in solidarity with traditional African mentality

Rethinking the African Value of High Fertility: The Yorùbá Farmers’ Example

African culture is implicated in the population dynamics of sub-Saharan Africa which is distinctly pro-fertile. However, there is a dearth of emic African demographic perspectives. In this light, the present article is a representation of demographic motivations of Yorùbá farmers’ who are largely rural residents and “more traditional” in orientation. Their articulations underscore themes cum bases of challenging the African value of high fertility, including the burdensome conceptualisation of high fertility; an appreciation of negative effects of high fertility on individuals and society; and the construction of high fertility as a threat to reaping “child food” (oúnje ọmọ), among others. In the current social climate, traditional culture is altered, manipulated or reconstructed to suit changing realities, thereby vindicating the “culture by the people” as opposed to “culture for the people” approach to cultural understanding